Play Novel Silent Hill
Playing Guide
Version 1.15 - Last Updated 11/03/16
Written by and Copyright 2002-2016 Toby Normoyle (loc182)
This is a playing guide for the Game Boy Advance game, Play Novel Silent
Hill, which was made by Konami and released only in Japan during the spring of
2001. This guide was originally written as a part of the translation, but it
became so long that I decided to make it a separate file. This guide should
answer any questions you might have about playing the game; however, it
contains no translation of the story. If that is what you are looking for,
then please take a look at the translation guides for Harry, Cybil, and
The Boy that I have also added to GameFAQs.
Japanese text support is necessary to properly display this guide. If the
following line is displayed correctly then you have the proper support:
プレイノベル サイレントヒル ＰＬＡＹ ＮＯＶＥＬ ＳＩＬＥＮＴ ＨＩＬＬ
(Note: You will probably need to change the encoding on your browser to
Japanese manually to view this page. I also recommend setting the font to
FixedSys as that is what was used to write this guide.)
Table of Contents
1. What is this Game?
2. Credits
3. Story
4. How to Begin and Load Games
5. Flow of the Game
6. Controls
7. Automatic Save Feature
8. The Official Numbering System
9. Digital Trading Cards
10. One-point Advice
11. Contact Information and Update History
12. Copyright Information
1. What is this Game?
Basically, Play Novel Silent Hill is like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.
If you are unfamiliar with these books, they are books in which you are often
presented with a choice, and the story unfolds based on the choices you make.
Play Novel Silent Hill is no different, as you make choices and the story
progresses. However, since this is a video game, video images of the area
you are in and characters that are present often accompany the text. A few
movies from the PlayStation version of Silent Hill even pop up from time
to time to move the story along.
I do feel that it is important to note that this game is a Japanese text
adventure, and nothing more. Much like July for the Dreamcast, it was never
meant for English speaking audiences in its current form. So please do not
judge this game as many judged July. Both games are story-driven, and
while neither is graphically intensive, both titles deliver exactly what they
promise.
2. Credits
This guide would not have detailed information on the digital trading cards
from The Boy scenarios without the help of the official Konami guide for Play
Novel Silent Hill. This guide was written by Yusuke Yokoi, published by
Konami, and released by 双葉社 (Futabasya) as part of the Konami Kanpeki
Kouryaku Series. The ISBN number is 4-575-16265-5 and I highly recommend
purchasing it if you have the opportunity. It is completely written in
Japanese, but the flowcharts and pictures make it a worthwhile purchase even
if you cannot read Japanese. Plus this book is the only way I know of to see
scenes and text from The Boy's Spring scenario.
The instruction manual for this game is occasionally referenced; however, I do
this mainly to point out interesting facts and errors.
3. Story
As a text adventure, Play Novel Silent Hill's strength is its story. While any
fan of the PlayStation version knows the basic plot elements, this title
expands on these elements as well as adding many new ones. A major part of
this game is the ability to play as Cybil Bennett. This allows you to see what
she was doing while Harry was asking everyone, "Have you seen a little girl
around here?" Additionally, for those in Japan with Internet capable cellular
phones and the Game Boy Color Mobile Adaptor, four other scenarios were
available for download. The main character of each is "The Boy," a boy by the
name of Andy. Each scenario is named after a season, thus there are spring,
summer, fall, and winter scenarios for "The Boy." Unfortunately it has been
confirmed that Konami has discontinued this service, so we may never be able
to see these scenarios.
(For some reason, some have referred to "The Boy" scenarios as "Survivor"
scenarios. I am not sure how this came about, but from my understanding of
Andy and the Spring scenario, this is a bad way to describe him and his
scenarios.)
4. How to Begin and Load Games
First of all, highlight "START" on the title screen and then press either the
Start or A button. This will take you to the save slots screen, which shows
you the state of the game's three save slots.
If you have not started a new game yet, then just choose any of the three
empty slots and press the A button. The "His Fate" card will appear on the
screen. This is the character select screen. Since you can only choose Harry
right now, press A again to start the introduction. Once you select Harry the
game will save to that slot and there is no conventional way to erase save
data. (You can reset data as often as you like; however, once used a save slot
cannot be cleared. I have posted a save on GameFAQs that will clear all the
save data on your cartridge, so you can download that save if you really want
a fresh cart.)
If you are loading a game, then you will see three pieces of information in
each slot with save data. First is the name of the character you are using.
Luckily this is always in English. So you will see either HARRY or CYBIL,
depending upon who you were playing with last. Directly below that is the
chapter that the game was last saved in. This is in Japanese and will be two
to four characters long. The introduction is the only chapter with two
characters. For all the other chapters, the middle, or middle two characters
represent the number of the chapter. So by learning the simple numbers 1-18
in Japanese, you can quickly see what chapter you are in. Here are the
numbers 1-18 in Japanese for your reference:
To the right of the chapter you will see the description of the block the game
was last saved in. This is called the "Block Name" in the instruction manual.
This usually gives a very general description of either the location or theme
of the block you are currently in. When a game is loaded, you will always
start at the beginning of the block. Please keep in mind that several blocks
have the same "Block Name." If you are starting from Harry's introduction, the
save slot will look like this:
HARRY
序章 「悪夢の始まり」<-- Block Name
If you select this slot with the A button, the following will be displayed:
HARRY
序章 「悪夢の始まり」<-- Block Name
「久しぶりの休暇」<-- Event Description
このシナリオが選択されました This scenario has been selected
続きから Continue
初めから From the Beginning
The Japanese that appears directly below the chapter number and block name
usually gives a description of an event that takes place in the block,
so I call it the "Event Description." The event description is not limited to
events; however, and sometimes it can be a person, a place, or a thing. With
a few exceptions almost every block has a different event description, so
this is a good tool to use to figure out where you are in the game.
Below the event description is a choice between continuing and starting
over. "Continue" is highlighted by default, so another press of the A button
takes you to the character select screen. If the save is with Harry, the
"His Fate" card appears and the "Her Fate" card appears for Cybil. If there is
flashing arrow on this screen, it means you can select the other character.
One save slot holds complete saves for each character, so you can choose
either one without fear of losing anything. When you choose the "other"
character, you simply start from the block that the game was last saved in
with them. Once you decide which character to play with, press A again to
start.
I recommend that you NEVER choose "From the Beginning" as this erases
everything for that save file. It will not affect other save files or the
digital trading cards, but you lose everything else and return to the
introduction, which you can do without losing any progress by viewing the
ending credits.
If you really wish to start over, clear out your flowchart, and give up the
use of Cybil (if her scenario is available) on the selected save slot, select
初めから, and then select はい to confirm. Pressing the B button or selecting
いいえ will cancel the erase operation and return you to the save slots
screen. After you confirm the erase operation, you will see the "His Fate"
card as you can only select Harry now. At this point nothing has been erased.
You can still press B to cancel the operation and keep your data. Pressing A
again serves as the final confirmation, and takes you straight to the
introduction.
5. Flow of the Game
The actual game has three main parts: the normal areas, the question areas,
and the flowchart. Then there are the blocks, which are what make up the
normal and question areas, but not technically a "visible" part of the game.
To begin, the blocks are basically only a part of the game for saving and
loading purposes. Each block has its own block name and event description, but
you will not notice this unless you turn the GBA off and load often. The
normal areas can be made up of any number of blocks, but the question areas
always contain just one block.
The normal areas contain most of the text in the game. You probably won't
always notice the normal areas change as they are often quite seamlessly
strung together. Normal areas can have any number of blocks, pictures, and
pages of text. When you reach the end of the text in a normal area, you will
automatically move to the next area. Sometimes this move is fairly
straightforward and sometimes it is based on a choice you have made earlier
in the game. These areas are represented by white squares on the flowchart.
(Please note that these areas will appear somewhat gray rather than white on
the flowchart when not selected or a part of your current path through the
game.)
Unlike the normal areas, question areas only contain one block, one page of
text, and one picture. In a question area you must choose one of two or more
choices in order to move the story along. As with all other selections in this
game, the currently highlighted choice will be in red, and I suspect this may
be why Konami chose to have these areas appear as red squares on the
flowchart. (These areas will appear in a slightly darker red color when on the
flowchart when not selected or a part of your current path through the
game.)
The flowchart is quite a useful tool as it allows you to see and visit any of
the areas that you have ever been to while playing. As mentioned above,
normal areas appear as white or gray squares and question areas appear as red
or dark red squares on the flowchart. When you open the flowchart, the square
representing the area you are currently in will have a pulsating orange box
around it. This box is the cursor, which you can move about with the d-pad.
You can only move the cursor as far right as there are squares. When you
highlight a square on the flowchart, some Japanese will be displayed at the
bottom of the screen. The top line is the chapter number and the block name
of the first block (or only block) in the area you have highlighted, and the
bottom line is the event description for the same block. Since areas are the
only thing that appear on the flowchart, you cannot highlight individual
blocks. You should also notice that orange lines will appear when you
highlight a square. These lines connect the squares in order to show the most
recent path you have taken to reach the highlighted square. Finally, you will
see vertical blue lines at various intervals across the flowchart. These
lines show where chapters begin and end. The orange path lines will cross the
blue chapter lines, but there will never be a square on a chapter line.
There is one other interesting thing to note about areas and the flowchart:
Each area has a picture associated with it on the flowchart. And more often
than not this picture will not appear in any of the block(s) that make up the
area.
Now that you know about the parts of the game, here are some examples of how
everything fits together: (In the examples, the [] represent the area, and
the () represent the block(s) within the area. The first line is the block
name, the second is the event description, and the third shows the number of
the pages of text that are in each block.)
Example 1
In areas with only one block, the block name and event description will be
what you always see on the flowchart and the save slot.
[ (The Atmosphere of Alessa) ]
[ (The unfinished diary) ]
[ Pages 1-29 ]
In this case, if you turn the game off while viewing any of the 29 pages that
are in this block you will see the above text in Japanese on the save slot
when you load the game next, and you will always start on page 1 after
loading.
Example 2
When there are multiple blocks the block name and event description for the
first block in the area will always be displayed on the flowchart; however,
if you turn the GBA off you will see the block name and event description
for the block you were last "in" on the load screen.
[ ( Arrival ) ( Arrival ) ( Arrival ) ]
[ (Harry wakes up in his jeep) (Out of season snow) (Ghost Town) ]
[ Pages 1-3 Pages 4-6 Pages 7-10 ]
The above example is the first area in chapter 1 of Harry's scenario.
You will always see "Arrival" and "Harry wakes up in his jeep" in
Japanese if you highlight this area on the flowchart, but if you turn off
the GBA while page 8 is on the screen then "Arrival" and "Ghost Town" will
be displayed in Japanese on the load screen and you will start on page 7 of
the area after you load the game. (In this area the block name is the same
for all three blocks, but this is not always the case.)
6. Controls
The controls are very simple, as you spend most of the time reading text and
selecting choices. When the small spinning Flauros is on screen, pressing
A or R will cause the next bit of text to appear. If you are making a choice,
press up or down to highlight the choice you want in red, and then confirm it
with the A button. You can also tap the A or R buttons to make the text
appear faster, but be careful not to push the A button too rapidly or you
may skip through an area or select a choice that you do not want. The R
button will not confirm choices, so it is a safer way to quickly skip
through text. If you would like to see the picture behind the text, simply
hold the B button when the spinning Flauros is on the screen to make all
the all the text disappear. Releasing the B button will then cause the text
to reappear.
As long as you have seen at least two pages of text in an area, pushing the L
button when the Flauros is on screen will allow you to review only the text
you have seen in the current chapter since you: entered the chapter, last
loaded the game, or last selected an area from the flowchart. When you do
this, the text will turn light blue, the current background picture will be
darkened, and the following will be displayed at the bottom of the screen:
L<Back B Cancel Next>R (The < and > represent triangles.)
"B Cancel" will always be written in white text, but "L<Back" and "R>Next" are
both written in black and will be highlighted in either dark blue or orange.
The dark blue means that you cannot use that button right now, and the orange
means that you can. So if "L<Back" is highlighted in dark blue, that means
that you are on the first page of text that you can currently review. While
reviewing text you cannot see the most current page of text, but you can
press A or B at any time to exit this mode and return to the most current
page of text.
With the exception of the introduction, pressing the Select button when the
spinning Flauros is on the screen opens the flowchart. You can move the cursor
to any area you have visited in the current or previous games. However, be
aware that choosing an area you have not visited in the current game may alter
other choices you have just made. Use the A button to select any area, or the
B button to close the flowchart and return to the current area. If you would
like to return to the beginning of the area you are currently in, just press
A immediately after opening the flowchart.
(The Japanese instruction manual notes that you cannot use the flowchart while
in chapter 1, but this is incorrect. It is the introduction in which you
cannot access the flowchart, and thus the introduction does not appear
anywhere on the flowchart.)
7. Automatic Save Feature
All saving is automatic, so you never need to worry about remembering to save
your game. The game will always save to the current block as soon as you enter
it. Here is a list of times when this happens and the game saves:
1. When you select Harry (the His Fate card) after starting a new game from
an unused save slot.
2. If you last played with Harry, the game will save when you select Cybil and
vice-versa.
3. Any time you move into a different block by reading text or making a choice.
4. Any time you press A while an area is highlighted on the flowchart.
Finally, the game will also save if you watch the credits all the way
to the end. In this case the game is saved to the introduction.
8. The Official Numbering System
Each area is numbered in the official guide for Play Novel Silent Hill. Here
is how they generated the numbers for each area:
- Each number begins with the chapter number. So all the areas in chapter 10
will begin with the number 10 followed by a dash. For example, 10-1 would
be the number assigned to the first area in chapter 10.
- Areas are numbered beginning with the lowest, left-most area in the
chapter. The numbering is then done bottom to top, left to right within
the branch.
- Normal areas that are connected to question areas will always be numbered
sequentially regardless of their position on the flowchart. This can cause
certain areas that are further right to get lower numbers. After this
happens the numbering will begin again from the lowest left-most area in
the branch that has not yet been numbered.
- In chapters that have multiple branches the entire "lower" branch will be
numbered first, and then the "upper" branch will be numbered.
(Lower and upper branches exist in chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, and 16
in Harry's scenario, and in chapters 3 to 8 in Cybil's.)
The numbering system sadly seems a little complicated on paper, but when
viewed in picture form it makes a lot more sense. I will try to put
together a nice image of the flowchart for each scenarios to go along with the
translation.
Also, for owners of the guide book, please note that there are two errors on
the pictures of the flowchart for Harry's scenario that appear on pages 16-19.
The first is with chapter 7. They did not start the area numbers over after
chapter 6 here, so chapter 7 is numbered 6 to 22 instead of 1 to 17. In
chapter 13 they just added one number to the upper branch. So the areas are
numbered 5, 6, 8, and 9 instead of 5, 6, 7, and 8. In both cases, the correct
numbers are used if you follow the detailed flowchart analysis in the
guide book.
In Cybil's case a few errors are also present in the guide book, but these
errors involve the lines that connect areas and not the numbers. In Chapter 7
area 21 is connected to area 23, which is then connected to area 22. This is
not correct. Area 21 should be connected to both areas 22 and 23, and those
two areas should not be connected to each other. A similar mistake is also
present in Chapter 8. Area 13 is connected to area 14, which is then connected
to area 15. But Area 13 should be connected to both areas 14 and 15, and
areas 14 and 15 should not be connected.
9. Digital Trading Cards
As a reward for reaching the end of the game, you will receive various digital
trading cards. There are 32 cards total, and only 28 can be found in the
regular game. The only way to get the other four cards is by playing the four
downloadable scenarios of "The Boy." The list below shows which endings
yield each of the cards. You can view your card collection by highlighting
Digital Trading Card on the title screen and pressing either the Start or A
button. Use the L and R buttons to move between the pages and A to view a
slightly larger image of any card that you have. Also, should you wish to
erase your cards then press Select while viewing your collection. You will
then be asked in Japanese if you want to erase all the cards. Select はい for
yes and いいえ for no. You can also just press B to return to your card
collection without erasing anything. After selecting yes once, the game will
ask you if it is really all right to erase the cards. Select はい for yes and
the cards will be erased. Selecting いいえ or pressing the B button will
return you to your card collection without erasing anything.
The numbers used with each card represent the final area you must reach to get
that card. The first number is for the chapter and the second is for the area.
All of these areas are ending areas and this numbering scheme is the same as
the one used in the flowcharts found in the Konami Official Guide Book. The
translation guide will also stay true to this scheme.
First Page:
1. Incubus - The Boy/Winter Scenario
2. Cybil - Cybil Ending 8-11
3. Cheryl - Cybil Ending 8-9
4. Alessa - Harry Ending 18-2
5. Dahlia - Cybil Ending 8-15
6. Kaufmann - Harry Ending 13-7 (Misprinted in guide book as 13-8)
7. Lisa - Harry Ending 16-24
8. Mumbler - Harry Ending 16-24
Second Page:
9. Air Screamer - Harry Ending 18-1
10. Split Head - Harry Ending 18-1
11. Puppet Nurse - Harry Ending 18-2
12. Twin Feeler - Harry Ending 15-9
13. Float Stinger - Harry Ending 18-2
14. Groaner - Cybil Ending 8-15
15. Harry - Cybil Ending 7-23
16. Switchboard - Harry Ending 18-1
Third Page:
17. Chemicals - Harry Ending 16-25
18. Specimens - Harry Ending 18-1
19. Telephone - Cybil Ending 9-2
20. Key - Cybil Ending 8-5
21. Cafe - Harry Ending 16-25
22. Music Room - Cybil Ending 8-5
23. Hospital - Harry Ending 13-8 (Misprinted in guide book as 13-9)
24. Study - Harry Ending 15-8
Fourth Page:
25. Aqueduct - Cybil Ending 8-5
26. Elevator - Cybil Ending 8-5
27. Cemetery - Cybil Ending 7-23
28. His Fate - Harry Ending 13-8 (Misprinted in guide book as 13-9)
29. Her Fate - Cybil Ending 8-9
30. First Sight - The Boy/Spring Scenario
31. Escape - The Boy/Summer Scenario
32. Love - The Boy/Fall Scenario
Happily a save is now available on GameFAQs that will allow you access to
all 32 digital trading cards! You will lose all your game information if
download this save, but you will have a complete card collection!
10. One-point Advice
Unlike in the original PlayStation version of Silent Hill, you cannot be
"killed" in Play Novel Silent Hill. Certain choices might lead you to an
ending in which something unfortunate happens to Harry or Cybil, but you will
never see a conventional "Game Over" screen.
Although I believe everyone knows this already, I will mention it just in
case: In order to play as Cybil you must first reach any one of Harry's
endings.
If you wish to skip any movie, including the opening one, you can do so only
by pressing START. Happily you can also skip the rather dull credits
sequence by pressing START as well.
Basically, you will just be pressing the A button a lot in order to scroll
through the text that appears in each "area" of the game. Sometimes you will
automatically move to a new area by doing this, and sometimes you will have to
make a choice to move on. In many cases you will not realize that you have
moved to a new area just by playing, so check the flowchart often. Also, if
you continue after completing the game, play for a bit, and then decide to
move forward using the flowchart, don't forget that the area you select will
have the choices made to reach it last associated with it, and not the
choices you have just made in your current game. Sometimes these choices
will be the same, sometimes they will not.
Some of the choices you make will not have an immediate effect. Instead they
will cause you to move somewhere automatically at a later point. Figuring out
which choices cause this "automatic branching" is the key to seeing all the
endings in Harry's scenario. (Only seven choices are related to or will
cause automatic branching, one of which does not actually affect the outcome
of the game.)
In Cybil's scenario there is no automatic branching. The important choices
in her scenario will immediately place you on one (or on the way to one) of
three main paths. The first of these important choices is the final choice in
Chapter 2. This is quite different from Harry's scenario, in which the
first important choice does not occur until Chapter 7.
If you wish to easily reach ending A in Harry's scenario, which is like the
GOOD+ ending in the original Silent Hill, then always make choice A when you
come to a question area. The same is true for Cybil's scenario as well,
although her ending A is not the same as the GOOD+ ending.
One thing to keep in mind is that each area always has the same text no matter
how you reach it. This is a very good thing because if it were not true then
writing a translation would be very difficult!
Many of the choices will have no effect on the outcome of the game. They are
just there to let you see different pieces of text.
In Harry's scenario you make choices as if you were him; however, in Cybil's
scenario you often make choices about what is happening to her. So while you
get to make Harry fight back or run away when he is attacked, you actually
get to choose whether a monster will attack Cybil or not.
Occasionally you will be confronted with a puzzle. If you find that you are
having a hard time with any of the puzzles, please check the puzzle guide
already on GameFAQs. Since it already has all the information you will
need, I have not included puzzle solutions in this guide or the translation
guides.
Since the spinning Flauros will not appear on screen during any of the
puzzles you will not be able to access the flowchart if you are in the middle
of a puzzle.
If you wish to return to the introduction, simply watch the credits after
reaching an ending. But if you want to view an ending without being forced to
play through the introduction again just turn off the GBA before the credits
end. (Please keep in mind that you must let the credits end if you wish to
receive the digital trading cards associated with an ending.)
Some of the best advice the guide book gives is "to think of Cybil's scenario
as a completely different story." I totally agree with this. Personally I see
her scenario as an interesting way to explore what could have happened while
letting you in on some information that pertains to Silent Hill. The "what if"
quality of her scenario also allows for some nice character development that
would normally be impossible.
Harry's scenario also feels like a different story in many ways as well.
Some of it is exactly like what happened in the PlayStation version of
Silent Hill, while other parts have been changed in "interesting" ways. So as
you play Harry's scenario do not expect everything to be just like it was in
the original game.
The color of the border around each of the digital trading cards that you
have received is dependant upon whose scenario you completed at the time that
you received the card. (Each card can only be obtained by reaching a specific
ending, so the color of the border around each card will be fixed and will
never change.) So the cards with a dark red border are from Harry's, the
ones with a dirty green border are from Cybil's, and the ones with a dark
yellow border are from The Boy's scenario. As the border colors for the cards
match the colors of the "His Fate" and "Her Fate" images that appear when you
begin or load a game this leads me to believe that the image that would appear
when selecting one of The Boy scenarios would be dark yellow. Sadly though,
this is just conjecture.
11. Contact Information and Update History
If you need to contact me about something in this guide I can be contacted at:
toby at atomicillumination.com
Naturally the word "at" represents the @ symbol. This is done to help avoid
spam.
You can also send me a message via GameFAQs.
I try to always respond, but unfortunately I don't check either of these
addresses more than once a month. So please be patient after sending
me a message.
Also, apologies to anyone who sent a message to the old Excite email I
used to list here. That service cancels the mailbox after 90 days of
disuse, which resulted in the loss of many messages.
Update History:
07/27/2007 - First submission to GameFAQs.
08/13/2007 - Added a few notes on Cybil's scenario.
11/03/2016 - Updated the contact info and fixed a few typos.
12. Copyright Information
Play Novel Silent Hill
Playing Guide
Version 1.15 - Last Updated 11/03/16
Written by and Copyright 2002-2016 Toby Normoyle (loc182)
This work may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
free distribution per the conditions noted below. Otherwise, it may not be
placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly for profit. Use
of this guide in such a manner is strictly prohibited, and a violation of
copyright.
Posting Information:
- You can post this guide on your site as long as it is free for anyone
to look at, you do not modify it, and your site generally concerns
Silent Hill. (I would prefer not to see this appear on general cheat code
sites, it really just belongs on Silent Hill related ones.)
- If your site charges an access fee or requires users to signup in order
to view this guide then you may not post it.
- Updates will only be posted at GameFAQs.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.
